Apple iPads: My Thoughts and Impressions

There is no single doubt that Apple with its iPads has been really superior around the tablet market for the past couple of years.

And that’s not really surprising given that Apple was the pioneer that opened up this industry and turned it into a promising land of business.

Apple might not be the one that came up with the concept of tablet – because even when iPad wasn't born yet, many people were already familiar with the concept of this device, thanks to sci-fi movies across the theaters.

It’s actually not Apple that came out first with the concept of tablet.

It was Amazon that already had its homemade tablet-alike Kindle reader available to buy across its online store even before iPad was created – even though Kindle reader didn’t use touchscreen technology.

But even so, Apple should get all the credits for introducing this new industry to the world.

Anyway, in the past couple of days, i’ve been showing you guys some of my quick reviews of tablets according to each brand or manufacturer – from Nokia with its Lumia tablets, Microsoft with its Surface RTs and then LG, Kobo, Xiaomi, Motorola and not to mention, HTC with its Flyer and JetStream tablets.

Today, i want to keep the momentum going by bringing you more of other tablets from other brands.

And as you can see at the opening of this blog post above, then it's really obvious that today, i’m really interested to do my quick reviews of Apple tablets.

Apple actually has already had almost 5 generations of iPads and 2 gens of iPad mini available to buy on the market in the past few years.

However, given that Apple’s latest-gen tablets are iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina, not to mention, these are the only 2 iPads that have been reviewed on this website, then in this blog post, i’ll only do my quick reviews of these latest-gen iPads.

But of course, when i’ve finally made the gaming performance reviews of older generations of iPads, then i’ll definitely be updating this post in the near future.

So you should stick around or bookmark this page in case you’re interested to find out more about the older-gen iPads on this website.

Okay then, without further ado, here you go, my quick summary review of iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina. Enjoy!

iPad Air

One thing that is really amazing about iPad, especially the latest-gen iPad Air is, - despite having some fierce competition from its rivals, Android and Windows RT/8 camps -, it’s unbelievable to see how this Apple’s tablet still manages to become the best all-around tablet for many consumers out there on the tablet market, even until now.

Samsung may have something to brag in front of Apple with mouthwatering GALAXY Pro lineup that has monster specs and rich-content features. Or Sony may be proud with its water-resistant Sony Xperia Z/Z2.

However, when it comes to consumer satisfaction and re-sale value of the tablet, Apple with its iPads is just untouchable.

In fact, this Apple’s slate still maintains its position as the best on the market to date, even though its overall specs are not on the same level anymore with other 10-inch rivals like Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 10.1 or Asus Transformer Pad TF701T – which already adopt 2.5K display (2560x1600 pixels).

And more impressively, iPad Air, along with its sibling, iPad mini with Retina, also manages to become the game changer in this industry - as proved by many chip makers like Qualcomm and NVIDIA that jump to the 64-bit bandwagon on their latest chipsets, thanks to Apple’s brave decision to use 64-bit A7 chipset on its latest-gen iPads.

iPad Air is just a top notch product on tablet market. It has an insanely sharp 9.7-inch display sporting the 1536x2048 pixels, which ensures an eye pleasing experience to everyone who uses this tablet.

It’s also powered by a 64-bit A7 processor along with PowerVR G6430 GPU, ensuring a smooth experience to the UI and powerful graphical performance to the tablet.

Meanwhile, on the camera sector of this device, Apple equips this iPad Air with 5MP iSight camera that’s able to take decent quality shots, in fact, iPads have always been known to have the best quality cameras on the tablet market.

And last but not least, on the energy department, this larger iPad gets injected with a huge 8220mAH power battery inside, delivering users an all-day-long battery life, which is indeed true because the battery life of iPad Air is insanely strong and you just can’t kill this tablet even in heavy intense use (as i've already seen on Marques Brownlee's review on YouTube).

Not to mention, even if you’re not buying this tablet in the first place as a productivity device, you’ll be glad to know that Apple has also equipped this device with some awesome iWork productivity apps that are free and can come in handy when you bring this device to your office or when you’re just doing your homework.

So long story short, iPad Air is just a great quality tablet that offers a lot of great things to users.

This Apple’s tablet is not just great for reading books or watching movies, but it’s also amazing to use for different kind of stuff, from browsing the web, listening to music, reading magazines, editing your documents, taking decent quality pictures and videos and the most importantly, playing games.

Thanks to the rich catalog of apps and games across the App Store and not to mention, huge supports from many developers to well-optimize their iPhone apps specifically to iPad Air, there’s no doubt that the gaming experience of iPad Air is still superior compared to other rivals like Android or Windows-installed tablets.

It handles all the games perfectly and in full graphics, and all of you favorite games can be easily found for this device.

So i think, it’s really easy to recommend iPad Air to many tablet shoppers out there. And that’s simply because iPad Air is just a top notch product.

It has a sturdy material and premium feel all over its design and the logo of Apple on the back of this device really adds up a lot of value to its consumers, making them feel “premium” in front of public (lol).

That’s why, if you’re still looking for a decent quality tablet that literally can do everything – with the exception of productivity stuff that laptop or Surface Pro can do -, then iPad Air is your best shot here.

It’s really gorgeous looking tablet and even if you’re already bored using it, its re-sale value will still be high than any other tablets out there.

iPad mini with Retina Display

Similar just like the larger sibling iPad Air, there’s actually not much to write home about on the smaller iPad mini with Retina Display – of course with the exception of their screen size. So pretty much everything about iPad mini 2 is really similar with iPad Air.

They both have the same 4:3 aspect ratio on their screen (which actually was created by the first-gen iPad mini), the same 64-bit A7 chipset, the same exact 1536x2048 pixel resolution, the same 1GB of RAM, the same PowerVR G6430 and last but not least, the same iOS 7 out of the box.

However, the real reason why Apple releases this model to the market is because this company also wants to squeeze all the possible market share and sales that has been going on around the 7-inch tablet market, the market that Apple used to be not really interested to ‘get involved’ into, especially when Steve Jobs was still in charge.

But the cool thing about this Apple’s mini tablet is, - unlike other tablet manufacturers that believe 7-inch screen with 16:9 aspect ratio as a more ideal screen size for a smaller tablet, Apple , on the other hand, has its own vision regarding this market.

That’s why iPad mini 2 uses a 7.9-inch display size with aspect ratio of 4:3, making it look wider in portrait mode than any other 7-inch rivals out there.

And more impressively, since the first-gen iPad mini came out and became viral around the market, more and more tablet manufacturers also jump to the same bandwagon as Apple by using an 8-inch display to their tablets – as seen on Samsung GALAXY Note 8, Tab Pro 8.4, LG G Pad 8.3, the rumored-next-gen Nexus 8 from HTC and even a new comer, Xiaomi with its Mi Pad tablet, which 'blatantly' copies the entire thing about iPad mini – from its exact screen size, the same 4:3 aspect ratio, the same screen resolution, the same icon-grid UI and even the same exact design.

However, - despite a fierce competition from rivals -, iPad mini 2 with Retina is still the best 8-inch tablet out there on the market.

It just has all the elements of a great quality tablet – from a sharp and gorgeous looking display, a fast processor and powerful GPU, a bigger RAM, a solid and premium design, a smooth iOS 7 experience, a great gaming performance and the most importantly, a long-lasting battery life.

Similar just like the iPad Air, this smaller iPad mini 2 is also more than capable to deliver an all-day-long battery life to users, even in heavy intense use like watching HD movies in marathon or playing games in the row.

Not to mention, if you’re into photography, then your hobby will be accommodated really well on this tablet, thanks to its sharp 5MP iSight camera that’s not only able to take some decent quality shots, but also the photos and videos that are worth showing off to your huge HD TV in your house.

Meanwhile, when it comes to gaming performance, this tablet is actually pretty similar with the larger iPad Air.

So it handles all the games on App Store perfectly and smoothly, not to mention, in full highest graphics with all the visual effects running smoothly on this device.

However, according to one of readers of this website, he told me that his iPad mini 2 with Retina was not capable to perform smoothly when running GTA San Andreas in full highest graphics setting.

But weirdly, his old-gen iPada mini was able to play this game smoothly even in full highest graphics.

I believe the one to blame is either its high-resolution screen or probably the optimization from developer that hasn’t arrived yet for this tablet.

But despite all that, iPad mini 2 is still an amazing gaming tablet.

It can handle games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, Modern Combat 5, GTA Vice City, Need for Speed or Dead Trigger 2 in buttery smooth performance and in full graphics, and this tablet has a huge collection of well-optimized games on App Store.

Okay then, that’s all for now about Apple iPad tablets.

Of course, i’ll be updating this blog post in the future when Apple finally releases its next-gen iPads or when i’ve finally made the gaming performance reviews of older-gen iPads in the near future.

So be sure to head to this page if you’re interested to find out more about the other generations of iPads.

Disclaimer: Hi guys, bear in mind that this is not some in-depth review. This is Read more...